Program provides vehicles and equipment at below market costs
At its July 9 meeting, Cheney’s City Council unanimously agreed to renew its relationship with a program that has given the city access to equipment sometimes only wealthier municipalities can obtain.
The council agreed to allow officials to submit an application to renew Cheney’s agreement with the Federal Surplus Property Program. The program allows participating entities to purchase surplus federal vehicles and equipment often at prices significantly below market value.
“Generally we can get them at a pretty fair value,” City Administrator Mark Schuller told the council. “Cheney is not a wealthy city in any stretch of the imagination, so we have to make every penny count.”
The agreement does come with some conditions. Federally, the city agrees that all property acquired be placed in use for the purpose acquired within one year of receipt and remain in use for one year from the date placed in use.
State agency conditions on use of property costing in excess of $5,000 and passenger motor vehicles require the property only be used for the purpose for which it was acquired. The condition carries a stipulation that this be done for the first 18 months after it has been placed in use, unless otherwise stipulated by the state agency.
“We need to reapply every three years in order to compete in the system,” Schuller said. “It’s a great resource.”
Council also unanimously approved the Fire Department’s request to enter into a contract with IROL (Inspection Reports Online) for collection and storage of fire inspection reports. The contract will help the department receive, manage and track fire and life safety systems in the city through IROL providing inspection, testing and maintenance compliance reports and reviews.
The contract was originally presented to council at its May 23 meeting, at which Fire Chief Tom Jenkins explained there were no costs to the city for the service as business owners would pay the fee upon uploading their inspection reports to IROL. The national program would better allow city officials to find out who has had inspections done and what was inspected.
Jenkins said it’s the inspectors hired by the business whose responsibility it is to submit the reports to the city, of which he estimated about a third were doing so. Failure to provide these reports could hamper fire suppression efforts in case of an emergency.
According to the agreement with IROL, there would be a fee of $17.99 to submit the report. Cheney officials would then have online access to this information.
The council had a number of questions and concerns at the May 23 meeting about language in the contract, which in some cases didn’t seem appropriate for Cheney, and for the review process. Jenkins went back to IROL with those concerns and had the changes made, including addition of an exit clause for the city, along with running the contract through the city attorney’s office and the public safety committee for review.
In reports later in the meeting, Mayor Chris Grover told the council that the city’s water reclamation plant had received a 2018 Outstanding Performance Award from the state Department of Ecology. The plant is one of only a handful among the more than 300 in Washington to receive the award.
According to Ecology water quality communications manager Colleen Keltz, Cheney’s plant has won the award in 1999 and 2012-2014.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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